These Technologies Are Going To Transform The Way Businesses Compute

Not all of us can stay clued up on the latest developments in computing. Some of them arrive, and we hardly notice them. But some fundamentally change how we do everything. Just think about social media.

Out of interest, just how many people saw social media coming and what it could mean to businesses? Hardly any, if any at all. And that’s the problem. Businesses have been reactive, and not proactive until now. And they haven’t been using IT support to get new systems incorporated into their business models.

Here, we’re going to discuss some of the emerging trends for the rest of this year and the next. But I’m going to leave it to you to figure out exactly how your business might use these techs.

Personality Detection Algorithms

It sounds scary, and it is. Personality detection systems are now in operation. And they’re being used by businesses to gather data on their customers. But why might a company want to know about a person’s personality? Take life insurance brokers, for instance. It’s hard for them to get a sense of how much of a risk a person is just through a form. Plus, people make stuff up when they apply for life insurance.

For the insurance companies, it would be great if there was some kind of algorithm that could snoop on their Facebook and report back. Now there is. Algorithms can measure personality, based on social media posts and photos. And the data they gather then allows insurance companies to price risk more accurately.

Bots

Bots are apparently the next big tool in our worker productivity toolkit. Each worker will get a bot that will perform automated tasks, supercharging their productivity. It all comes down to the fact that bots are now able to remember previous conversations and sync with your email and diary. All of this syncing means that bots are able to do admin tasks, all by themselves.

It’ll be like having your very own personal assistant all the time. But bots are doing more than just chatting with us and filling in our diaries. They’re moving into other spaces, like tagging articles and photos. Businesses can also use bots to spy on their staff or train them up.

Blockchain

Ever since Bitcoin hit the scene back in 2009, blockchain has been a talking point among nerds. Essentially, it’s a system without gatekeepers. No one person has control over how the system operates or who transacts with whom. And that gives it unrivaled security.

Bitcoin probably isn’t the killer blockchain app. That title might have to go to another product, called Side Chain. Side Chain is a way to authenticate business-to-business transactions securely. And it will soon be replacing traditional ledgers and passphrases.

But the reason it’s so important is that it will engender a new world where you don’t need to trust the other party. The Side Chain system is so secure that it allows businesses to dump the middle-man. This has the potential to save enormous costs and open up new opportunities.